Bosses and luxury cars greet homebound maids

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of luxurious cars were spotted near Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta yesterday as the owners waited to pick up their relatives and, just as importantly, their servants.

The cars, ranging from Kijangs to Mercedes Benz, were parked bumper to bumper on a small plot near the terminal while the owners waited impatiently under the blazing sun.

Not all holidaymakers arrived weighed down by recession- induced gloom. Sari, a housemaid who works on Jl. Bangka, South Jakarta, enjoyed the melee at the terminal on her return after her Idul Fitri holiday.

"For the past two years, my employers have picked me up after I've spent my Idul Fitri holiday back home in Pacitan, East Java," the 21-year-old girl with thick make-up told The Jakarta Post.

Her employers turned out to be the owners of a new silver E- class Mercedes.

Sari said she was picked up in such style because the family for whom she had worked for five years was fond of her and she felt comfortable with them, too.

"My employers are very kind to me ... Even though they say we are in a terrible economic crisis, they haven't cut my allowance. I'm glad they pick me up, so I don't have to struggle on public buses. I'm so tired ... it's nice to get into a car with full air conditioning."

Another maid, 50-year-old Sarinem, said this was the first time her employer had picked her up at Pulogadung.

"I'm old. I'm afraid of getting lost. So I asked my employer to pick me up," she said.

Djoko, a 24-year-old gardener who works in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, said that his employer met him because he had brought two of his sisters to the capital to work at his employer's house.

"Usually I go back to Rawamangun myself ... but this time, because I am bringing two companions, my employers thought it safer to pick us up," the man said while getting into a red Great Corolla.

The post-Idul Fitri holiday influx is expected to peak Friday but 170,000 residents were expected to flood back into the capital yesterday.

At the Pulogadung terminal, 60,000 people were projected to enter the city aboard 3,224 buses and another 37,000 passengers were to disembark at Kampung Rambutan Bus Terminal, also in East Jakarta.

But not all the passengers were so happy. Thirty people were rounded up yesterday in a City Public Order Office operation designed to prevent unskilled workers from entering Jakarta.

The public order office has pledged to continue the operation in cooperation with other related parties, such as the City Population Agency, the City Social Services Agency, the Jakarta Police and the city's five mayoralties.

Senior City Public Order Office official Toha Reno said: "This year's operation is a bit special because it concerns national security. Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia ... therefore keeping stability here is very important because now we are swamped with problems.

"Besides the monetary woes, we have to contend with next month's general session of the People's Consultative Assembly, which is vital to this country's continued development. The last thing we need is for unemployed newcomers to flood the city," .

In a related development, the Central Jakarta mayoralty is to implement Operation Yustisi aimed at identifying people without proper identification cards next week.

Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said yesterday that during the operation, unskilled residents without proper identification cards would be forced to go back to their hometowns.

"We will also force people with proper identification cards but have no guarantee of getting jobs here to go back to their hometowns," he said.

The mayor said the operation would be implemented within two weeks in Menteng and other crowded districts, including Sawah Besar, Johar Baru and Rawasari.

South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko said his mayoralty planned to stage such an operation but had not yet determined the exact time.

Pardjoko said that he would wait until a meeting with the city administration to decide the details.

"We cannot just force people to return to their hometowns because we need to identify them so that we won't punish the wrong people," he said. (edt/ind)